Chapter 2422 — The Xuanzhen Ancestor

"Good. We shall never speak of this matter again. It is to be classified as the highest secret of our Yu family — known to the three of us alone, and to no one else!" The Yu family patriarch nodded and said, "Xiaochen, as for the Chen family, give them a warning. Tell Old Man Chen to keep his mouth shut, or he may find his whole clan wiped out!"

"Yes, Father!" Yu Xiaochen answered hurriedly... At that very place, the Xuanzhen Ancestor, who had been sitting in meditation within a diagram of the Eight Trigrams, suddenly opened his eyes, and his eldest disciple, Xiaoyi, who had been standing guard for him, started in fright and asked quickly, "Master, what is it? Why have you suddenly opened your eyes?"

"Your senior uncle has come out of seclusion. Come with me to welcome him!" The Xuanzhen Ancestor rose abruptly to his feet and strode out of the room.

Xiaoyi was briefly taken aback, then hurried after him, following the Xuanzhen Ancestor's steps out of the courtyard.

Once past the separate courtyard, the Xuanzhen Ancestor made his way toward a remote cave dwelling near the mountain peak. Though many disciples were about along the road and greeted him one after another upon seeing him, the Xuanzhen Ancestor had no time to respond. He went straight up the mountain and arrived at the entrance of that cave dwelling.

At the cave's entrance sat the Xuanzhen Ancestor's second and third disciples, the ones who kept watch for his senior brother. Seeing the Xuanzhen Ancestor approach, they could not help but stare in surprise, not knowing why their master had come.

"Master, you've come!" Xiao'er hurried over and saluted him.

The Xuanzhen Ancestor nodded but gave no reply. Instead he called out in a clear voice, "Second Brother, did this round of seclusion bring you any gains?"

"Haha, Xuanzhen, you've come quickly enough. Your second brother has only just come out of seclusion and you've already found your way here — I can't even get a moment's rest!" From within the cave came a vigorous, powerful voice. This was none other than the Xuanzhen Ancestor's second senior brother — the Xuanzhen Ancestor.

"Second Brother, am I not simply concerned for you? You were in seclusion for three whole years, and I could not so much as catch a glimpse of you. So the moment you came out, I hurried over!" Hearing that the Xuanzhen Ancestor's voice was full and resonant, the Xuanzhen Ancestor knew his body was sound, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

One had to understand that for a cultivator, seclusion was both a blessing and a curse — a double-edged sword. Wielded well, one's strength and cultivation would surge. Wielded poorly, one might suffer a deviation of qi and be driven to madness — or even drop dead on the spot.

After all, seclusion meant sealing oneself away, cut off from all contact with the outside world. If one truly did suffer a deviation of qi, no outsider would know, and there would be no timely rescue. It was entirely possible to simply die in the midst of one's retreat.

"Three years — to you and me, is that not but the blink of an eye?" The Xuanzhen Ancestor walked out of the cave with a smile and said in a ringing voice, "During my seclusion, nothing major happened in the mountains, I trust?"

The Xuanzhen Ancestor did not look young either, somewhat older than the Xuanzhen Ancestor. In dress and bearing the two were much alike, both clad in Eight Trigrams robes, each with a certain air of immortal grace.

"Second Brother, I shall tell you of the mountain's affairs in a little while. First, tell me how you are. What did this seclusion yield?" The Xuanzhen Ancestor's expression shifted slightly, but he quickly changed the subject — he did not want his second brother's spirits weighed down the moment he emerged from seclusion.

"Gains — hardly worth speaking of..." The Xuanzhen Ancestor sighed. "You know as well as I: once one's strength has reached our level, taking another step forward is harder than hard. Otherwise we would not have devoted all these years to opening Cloud Terrace Island, using it as a chance for a breakthrough..."

"True enough." The Xuanzhen Ancestor nodded. "Both our strengths stand at the very peak of the late Heaven Rank, at perfect consummation. One more step and we would enter an utterly new tier — yet that one step is a thousand times harder than hard to take! A pity there is not the slightest record of it in the sect; even the method of breakthrough has been lost. All we can do is open Cloud Terrace Island to obtain the way to break through..."

"Indeed, Third Brother. You must have felt it too — for us to break past the perfect consummation of the late Heaven Rank seems well-nigh impossible. At our present strength we seem to have reached a kind of saturation; no amount of further cultivation brings any progress." The Xuanzhen Ancestor said, "If I am not mistaken, breaking through this tier must require some other dedicated mental method, mnemonic formula, or specialized approach. The old ways of cultivation will be of no use."

"Exactly — and that is why we are so bent on opening Cloud Terrace Island." The Xuanzhen Ancestor spoke with deep agreement. "By the way, Second Brother, have you made any progress in alchemy? Can you now refine fourth-grade pills?"

"To my shame! When it comes to third-grade pills, your second brother can still achieve a very high success rate — but fourth-grade..." Here the Xuanzhen Ancestor shook his head helplessly. "I have no confidence whatsoever. I made several attempts during my seclusion, all of them ending in failure... I fear only someone with Lingtou's talent could refine fourth-grade pills."

"Ah, speaking of Lingtou... I wonder whether he has ever got past that hurdle in his heart..." The Xuanzhen Ancestor smiled bitterly. "All these years he has never once reached out to us, and we dare not disturb him..."

"Indeed. Had that accident not happened, Lingtou would surely be all but certain to refine fourth-grade pills, beyond any doubt!" The Xuanzhen Ancestor sighed as well. "The three of us brothers would then tread the Heavenly Dao together and return to that realm — what joy that would be! It is all my fault. In those years I was so bent on rivalry and winning that I wronged Lingtou..."

"Let it be, Second Brother. You need not blame yourself. Rivalry among fellow disciples is only natural; no one wished for that accident..." The Xuanzhen Ancestor waved a hand to console him. "But Second Brother, all these years you have poured your energies into the study of alchemy and have not even taken a single disciple — I suspect it is because you wish to refine fourth-grade pills for Lingtou to take, is it not?"

"Naturally so." The Xuanzhen Ancestor nodded. "I have failed Lingtou, and it has weighed on my heart all this time."

The Xuanzhen Ancestor nodded. He understood the Xuanzhen Ancestor's feelings, but in his view, what was past was past. Lingtou had never been close with the two of them anyway — at least, the Xuanzhen Ancestor had not been especially intimate with him, and so he had never much cared for Lingtou.

In truth, over the years he had long since discovered where Lingtou had gone and how to contact him; he simply did not wish to. The Xuanzhen Ancestor was a man who would stop at nothing to achieve his ends. In his eyes, a senior brother who was of no use whatsoever could never bring any benefit to the sect, and so he had turned his own refusal to contact Lingtou into Lingtou's refusal to reach out to them.